Alabama Football: Grading All 22 Starters from the Ole Miss Game

John David Mercer-US PRESSWIRENick Saban and the Crimson Tide will have plenty of mistakes to clean up after a sloppy 33-14 win over Ole Miss.

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In a weekend where several teams in the Top 10 won ugly without playing their best football, top-ranked Alabama survived a sloppy performance against a pesky Ole Miss squad to earn a 33-14 victory.

Nick Saban’s club gained a boost from its special teams unit, with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Christion Jones erasing the team’s only deficit this season and jumpstarting a decisive second quarter outburst.

The defense forced three interceptions after Jones’s heroics that helped the Tide build a 27-7 halftime lead before most of the team’s issues came to light in the second half.

Kicker Jeremy Shelley booted four field goals to help bail out an offense that got stuck in neutral inside the red zone.

How did the Tide’s starters fare from an individual standpoint in the win over the Rebels?

Find out in this breakdown grading all 22 starters from the Ole Miss game.

Offensive Line

The offensive line had a night it would rather forget against a feisty and aggressive Ole Miss defense.

The running game failed to get untracked and the offense managed season-low totals in yards (305), points and yards per play (4.77).

While the Rebels defense loaded up the box to stop the run, the line did better in pass protection only allowing one sack and routinely giving McCarron time to dissect the Rebels secondary in passing situations on third down.

It is worth noting that, even though the Tide’s offense struggled, they were still able to control the clock and maintain a double-digit cushion for most of the game.

After its worst performance of the season, expect this veteran unit to sort out its issues during the bye week and step up its level play beginning with a trip to Missouri in two weeks.

Defensive Line

John David Mercer-US PRESSWIRE

DE – Ed Stinson: B

DT – Jesse Williams: B

DE – Damion Square: B

The defense as a whole had spurts of dominance mixed with sporadic moments where they let their guard down and allowed the Rebels to move the ball, and the defensive line mirrored the unit’s inconsistencies.

The front three limited the Rebels only 80 yards rushing and helped control the line of scrimmage enough for the defense to ring up five sacks on the night.

The Tide also uncharacteristically allowed two rushing touchdowns, and the line has to accept its share of the blame for allowing the Rebels to punch in two scores in its only trips into the red zone.

Secondary

The secondary picked up the slack for the defense by forcing three interceptions in the second quarter.

Aside from one deep ball that Donte Moncrief hauled in early in the second quarter, the defensive backs did an excellent job of keeping everything in front of them and forcing Ole Miss into pressing for the big play.

Corner Dee Milliner continued his stellar play thus far by recording four pass breakups and an interception.

The biggest concern for this unit could be the health of Belue—who did not play in the second half due to a shoulder injury according to Andrew Gribble of al.com.

Considering the three turnovers they were able to generate and the fact that both Ole Miss touchdowns were on the ground, the secondary had the strongest showing of any unit on the defense.